Tag Archives: Rice

Last post, I mentioned I have made a stir fry with tofu. It was just what my veggie stir fry recipe needed. The stir fry is good on its own. But the tofu bumps it up a notch and adds more protein.

The hardest most time consuming part of this recipe is chopping the veggies. To save time, I have started buying shredded carrots. It’s double the price of the regular carrots, but this Li’l Mama needs some easy in her life. Can I have the STAPLES Easy button please???? 🙂

I digress.

You can use any veggies you have in your veggie crisper. I like to use chopped broccoli, shredded carrots, diced zucchini and diced red bell peppers. If you’re able to, you can buy the store bought chopped veggies (I’m feeling a little envious now…)

Here’s my little tip on the zucchini:
Cut it in half longways. Then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and the guts. Then chop or dice the ‘chini. I didn’t do this for a long time and my zucchini was always mushy. I somehow figured out the scooping out the guts part and no more mushies!!!

Here’s another little secret. Sometimes I use rice and sometimes I use spaghetti noodles…and tonight I used penne noodles. Not very stir fry-ish, but I am all out of spaghetti noodles. For stir fry nights, I like to use spaghetti noodles every now and then.

I special ordered a case of safe spaghetti noodles and paid a small fortune to ship them… and they are LOST! 😦

Who needs $60 back anyway? $35 ish for the noodles. $25 ish to ship.

Ouch.

Note to self, always insure your noodles. 😉

Anyway, I mix up the rice and noodles to make the dish seem different.

Afterall, variety is the spice of life…

Or so they say. Who are they, anyway?

I digress.

Here’s how to make the food.

Chop some veggies and cook in a wok.

Veggies. The steam always fuzzes up my pics. Oh well. 🙂

Boil some noodles or throw some rice in a rice cooker.

Press some tofu and do a quick soy marinade.
Grill/sauté tofu ’til kind of crispy.

Grilled Tofu. Mmmmm.

Throw it all in a bowl.

Done.

See? Simple.

Tofu & Veggie Stir Fry

Now, for the actual recipe.

Simple Tofu and Veggie Stir Fry

Ingredients:

Chopped and diced veggies of your choice (I use an entire head of broccoli, 2-3 zucchinis, 1 red bell pepper and at least a cup of shredded carrots)

Extra Firm Tofu, Pressed Then Cubed

Rice or Noodles

Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Pinch of Ginger Powder

Other Stuff Needed:

Wok

Grill Pan

Bowl with Lid

Directions:

Drain and press tofu. Put tofu between two plates. Make sure to put a sheet or two of paper towels under tofu. Put something heavy on it like a big box of veggie broth. Leave it alone until step 4.

Boil water in large pot and add noodles OR start rice in the rice cooker.

Heat the wok on medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon coconut oil. Add veggies and cook, stirring frequently. If the veggies seem to dry, add another tablespoon coconut oil. When the veggies seem mostly cooked, squirt (squirt! I love that word!) some liquid aminos all over the veggies. Sprinkle some garlic powder and onion powder over the cooking veggies, too. Stir.

Tofu time! Take the tofu block and cut it in half. Cut the tofu into strips and then bite sized cubes. Take a bowl with the lid and squirt some liquid aminos in the bottom of the bowl. Add onion and garlic powder and a pinch of ginger powder. Stir with a fork.

Add the tofu cubes, put on lid and shake the tofu around. (I use a pyrex bowl.) Squirt a little more liquid aminos and add another dash of garlic and onion powder.

Heat grill pan on medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon coconut oil. Cook until tofu has nice grill marks and is nice and brown. Squirt 🙂 a little more liquid aminos on the tofu as it is cooking.

Serve as you wish. I put the rice or noodles as the bottom layer in a deep bowl, scoop in lots of veggies, and top with crispy tofu.

We also squirt! (heehee) a little bit more liquid aminos on the entire dish. There is no need to add salt to this dish because the liquid aminos does it for you.

Notes:
If you don’t have a wok, use a sauté pan. If coconut oil isn’t safe for you, sub a safe neutral oil, such as olive oil or something similar. If you don’t have a grill pan, sauté the tofu in a pan until crispy.

This has quickly become a family favorite. My 5 year old complained because she gobbled up her tofu immediately and wanted more tofu. My child loves it! And I hope you and yours, will, too.

This super easy dinner has quickly become one of our favorite meatless meals. I won’t drag on about a cute little story— let’s get to the “meat” of it. 🙂

The easy dinner is rice, refried beans and roasted broccoli. Simple, homemade and oh so yummy!

Homemade refried beans, prepared in advance and frozen.

Rice made in the rice cooker.

Fresh, roasted garlic broccoli.

EASY!

I make my refried beans in advance and ALWAYS keep some in my fridge. When I use the last bag of frozen beans, I make another batch. It’s seriously the easiest recipe ever. Soak the beans, throw them in the crockpot with just a few spices, an onion and water, cook and blend. Easy peasy. Click here for Ally’s recipe on her blog. (I omit the cayenne.)

I was inspired by this recipe from Kalyn’s Kitchen. I made a few small changes- I don’t measure the olive oil. I drizzle some olive oil until the broccoli looks just coated. And I usually use 4 cloves of garlic, rather than 6-8 cloves. I love that I don’t need to measure anything for the roasted broccoli! Just toss stuff in and roast. I also roast at 400 degrees or sometimes even 415 degrees for usually 15 minutes. Easy peasy.

This does not take long to prepare.

Broccoli ready for the oven.

Those dark spots are the best part! The Huzz says this tastes restaurant worthy!

While the rice is cooking and the broccoli is roasting, I defrost and heat the frozen refried beans.

I serve the beans over the rice with the broccoli on the side.

Not only is this a delicious dish, but it’s very budget friendly.

Dried beans: affordable

Rice: affordable

Broccoli: affordable

Lately, I’ve been buying our broccoli from Aldi’s and it’s such a great deal. The last pack of broccoli I bought from Aldi was $1.39. The entire bag of bagged dried pinto beans was about a $1. I think I maybe paid $1.30 for an entire bag of rice. I used 2 cups of the cooked beans (I think the recipe for 1 pound of beans yields 6-7 cups of cooked refried beans) and rice. Maybe 32 cents for the beans and a cup and a half of dried rice (maybe 40 cents tops?). I’m guesstimating. Wet finger in the air… $2.11 for the entire meal! Super budget friendly! (I didn’t add the cost of garlic because I always have garlic lying around the pantry.)

Beans and rice. Rice and beans, baby! (That’s for all of our Financial Peace University friends!)